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The Germany Eighth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo - at that time still in the old line-up (archive image)
Photo: Frank Hoermann / Sven Simon / imago images / Sven Simon
Big upheaval in the Germany Eight: With only three silver winners from Tokyo and much rejuvenated, the German rowing flagship starts the first season after the Olympic Games.
National coach Uwe Bender presented the youngest team of eight since 2002 at the presentation in Dortmund.
Olympic silver medalists Torben Johannesen, Laurits Follert and Olaf Roggensack will keep their places in the parade boat of the German Rowing Association (DRV).
New batsman Mattes Schönherr (22), Wolf-Niclas Schröder (25), Benedict Eggeling (23) as well as Julian Garth (20), Jasper Angl (21) and helmsman Jonas Wiesen (25) complete the team for the start of the cycle ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
»Everyone wants to develop, everyone works well.
But they also know that they still have a lot to learn.
I can see in the training sessions that things can get quick," said Bender, who, however, predicted "a difficult year", "especially since we are repeatedly confronted with Corona in addition to the major changes in personnel".
The longtime helmsman Martin Sauer, London Olympic champion Richard Schmidt as well as Malte Jakschik and Jakob Schneider had ended their careers after Tokyo.
The former batsman Hannes Ocik switched to the skull area, Johannes Weißenfeld paused for a year due to his studies.
In addition to silver in Tokyo, the team, spoiled by success, had won three world titles and four European gold medals in the last Olympic cycle.
Most recently, there were six changes in 2009 compared to the previous year.
The World Cup in Poznan, Poland (17th to 19th June) will be the first test for the new crew of eight.
After the World Cup in Lucerne (July 8th to 10th) and the home European Championships in Munich (August 11th to 13th), the World Championships in Racice, Czech Republic, are on the agenda from September 18th to 25th.
There, Follert and Roggensack, who are not released by the federal police, are replaced by Mark Hinrichs and Tom Tewes.
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